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Chinese producers and traders of agricultural products complain that exports to Japan have suffered a sharp decline since a massive quake and tsunami disrupted the country's transportation systems and power supply supplies.
Agricultural officials and other experts believe that this trouble will ease and Chinese farm produce exports to Japan could even increase as recovery efforts continue.
"Our company's export of grilled eel to Japan stopped right after the earthquake," said Zhang Lisen, president of Xilong Food Company in east China's Jiangxi Province.
The firm, which mainly produces grilled eel, relies heavily on the Japanese market. It ships an average 2,000 tonnes of frozen grilled eel to Japan every year.
Zhang was pessimistic about the quake-rattled Japanese market and has a plan for the worst case scenario: "shut down the factory and send workers home."
Eel is favored by Japanese who believe eating eel boosts stamina, especially in hot weather.
However, eel farming in Japan can only satisfy 30 percent of its demand, forcing the country to import the rest, said Zou Shengyuan, secretary-general of Jiangxi's fishery association.
Commerce statistics show that around 70 percent of China's total eel exports were delivered to Japan.
"The quake could hurt China's export of expensive freshwater products,like grilled eel, to Japan as disasters bring down consumer confidence," said Guan Shaofei, director of the provincial fishery bureau.
Grilled eels were sold to Japan at around 30,000 dollars per tonne, according to Guan.
In south China's Guangdong Province, exports of fresh eel to Japan fell 30 percent over the past week after disasters disrupted transportation and power supply in Japan, said Xu Limin, president of Guangdong's eel association.
"Breeders had to grill the eel to buy some time since fresh eel goes bad easily," he said.
The problems in Japan also brought headaches to agricultural producers and traders in east China's Shandong Province who export the bulk of the province's farm produce to the quake-stricken country.
"The power disruption would make keeping farm produce fresh extremely difficult," said Cao Menghui, president of Yiping Agricultural Product Group, a garlic products manufacturer based in Jinan, Shandong's provincial capital.
Shandong-based Anqiu Food Trade Company, which sells vegetables, fruits and wheat foods to Japan, was asked by its Japanese customers to temporarily suspend shipping, said Liu Haiyan, the company's president.
However, agricultural officials and experts believe the quake's impact on farm produce exports to Japan will turn positive once transportation is restored and residents return to their daily lives.
"It is more of an opportunity than a challenge to Chinese exporters," Guan Shaofei said.
The two disasters and ensuing nuclear leakage will hurt the country's food supply. The supply of fishery products will be especially weak as the disaster-hit northeastern regions were among Japan's major fishing areas.
Meanwhile, radioactive material far exceeding legal limits found in Japan's agricultural produce has spread fear in Japan and abroad.
Guan Shaofei said demand for Chinese freshwater fishery products may rise as the radiation scare continues, creating an opportunity for Chinese exporters.
Zou Shengyuan said the increase in both price and volume will be seen over the next two months.
The World Bank's chief economist Justin Yifu Lin said Monday that the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan is expected to affect the world economy but the impact will be "short-lived."
Lin expressed optimism regarding the Japanese economy, saying Japan's imports will return to pre-quake levels in a year while its exports will rebound 80 percent.
Japan is China's third largest trade partner, largest source of imports and fifth largest destination of exports.
Bilateral trade volume stood at 297.8 billion U.S. dollars last year, about 10 percent of China's total foreign trade, according to data from China's Ministry of Commerce.
(Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com)
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